The new hoverboard, sleeker and more responsive than the original, was complete. But Ren's mind was no longer on the simple joy of flight. It was consumed by the complex, world-altering schematics of his new project. The theoretical work was done. The blueprint was complete. Now, he needed the one person in Teyvat who could help him turn this impossible theory into a tangible reality.
He needed his Master.
"Big sister," he said to Ganyu one morning, his expression unusually serious. "I need to go to Mt. Aocang. And… I think I can go alone now."
Ganyu froze, her protective instincts immediately flaring. "Alone? Ren, that's out of the question. After everything that has happened…"
"It's safe now," he countered gently but firmly. "The Harbingers are quiet. And I'll be flying. I'll be faster. It's important, Big Sister Ganyu. It's… a new project. Something only Master can help me with."
She looked at him, at the quiet, unshakeable resolve in his glowing azure eyes, and she saw that this was not a childish whim. This was the determined focus of the inventor, the strategist who had faced down gods and Harbingers. Her fear was still there, a tight knot in her chest, but her pride, and her trust in him, was greater.
"Alright," she conceded, her voice a soft, worried whisper. "But you will contact me with the sigil the moment you reach. And the moment you are ready to return."
"I promise," he said, giving her a reassuring hug.The solo flight to Jueyun Karst was a breathtaking, liberating experience. He soared through the clouds, a single, small figure in a vast, empty sky, the world a magnificent tapestry beneath him. He landed on the familiar, windswept peak of Mt. Aocang to find Xianyun waiting, as if she had been expecting him all along.
Without a word, he led her into the workshop, the familiar, comforting hum of latent power washing over him. He unrolled the new blueprint on the main workbench.
Xianyun leaned forward, her golden eyes scanning the complex diagrams, the intricate annotations, the revolutionary, impossible concepts. She saw the designs for the Resonance Chamber, the schematics for the crystalline Elemental Conduit, the theories on ambient energy absorption.She was silent for a full, long minute, her brilliant mind absorbing and processing the sheer, audacious genius of his design.
"This is not a machine of convenience," she said finally, her voice a low, awestruck murmur. "This is… a re-ordering of the fundamental laws of elemental affinity."
Ren then explained his motive. He spoke of the Fatui, of the Delusions, of the terrible, life-draining price they exacted. "It's a bad design, Master," he said, his voice full of a quiet, passionate conviction. "It's parasitic. This… this is a better way. A safe way. A way to give power to those who need it without asking them to sacrifice their lives for it."
The compassionate, pragmatic goal of his world-altering invention resonated deeply with the adeptus. This was not a quest for power; it was a quest to mitigate suffering. It was a project Guizhong would have championed.
"We will build it," Xianyun declared, her voice ringing with a new, profound purpose. The hovercar was still a long way to go, but this was a project that they could analyze now itself.
Their work began immediately. The creation of the prototype was the most complex and delicate project they had ever undertaken. The Elemental Conduit, the heart of the device, required a level of material science and adeptal artistry that pushed even Xianyun's skills to their limit. She forged the crystalline lattice in an adeptal crucible, fusing the powdered crystal marrow and noctilucous jade at a molecular level, her own energy guiding the formation of the perfect, receptive structure.
Ren, for his part, designed the housing. He wanted it to be practical, wearable. He integrated the Resonance Chamber and the Conduit into the design of a sleek, form-fitting gauntlet made of dark, sturdy leather and polished metal.
He also added one more, crucial, pragmatic feature. He designed a small, miniature side slot on the gauntlet. "The device is designed to absorb ambient energy," he explained. "But what if the user is in a place with very low elemental energy, like a deep cave, or an Abyss domain? This slot is a backup. You can insert a small shard of an elemental crystal—a sliver of Agnidus Agate, for example—and the device will draw power directly from it. It ensures it will work anywhere, under any circumstances."
After two weeks of intense, focused, and secretive work, the first prototype was ready.
It was a beautiful, formidable object: a gauntlet that covered the back of the hand and the forearm, gleaming with a dark, metallic sheen. The crystalline Conduit on the back of the hand pulsed with a faint, inner light, currently empty and inert. Ren had chosen Pyro for their first test, as its raw, powerful energy would be the most obvious and easiest to detect.
He slid the gauntlet onto his left arm. It was a perfect fit. He then took a tiny, sharp sliver of Agnidus Agate, a Pyro crystal, and slotted it into the backup port.
The Conduit, which had been clear, instantly flashed a brilliant, fiery orange. The ambient energy in the workshop, along with the power from the crystal sliver, was drawn into the device, and Ren could feel a new, unfamiliar power thrumming through the gauntlet, a warmth that was entirely separate from his own innate cold.
He held up his left hand, his heart pounding. His goal was simple, use the hand movement to activate the device and release a burst of pyro energy, regulated by the crystal itself. The moment he flexed his fingers, the device actuvated.
From the palm of the gauntlet, a jet of pure, controlled fire erupted with a soft whoosh. It was not a wild, chaotic explosion, but a tight, focused stream of Pyro energy that danced in the air for a few seconds before he cut off the flow.
He stared at his hand, then at the lingering wisp of smoke in the air, a sense of profound, terrifying, and triumphant awe washing over him.
He held the cold of the abyss in one hand, and now, the fire of a sun in the other. He had done it. He had created a safe, stable, artificial Vision. He had just forged a weapon that could, and would, change the world.